Where romance never ends and happiness abounds

Stranded: A Winter Romance Duet by Samantha Chase and Noelle Adams

What happens when two people who are supposed to hate each other are stranded together in a winter storm? Cool down after a hot summer with two fun, festive winter romances available together for a limited time.

Moonlight in Winter Park by Samantha Chase – When Hope barges into the mountain retreat of her brother’s boss, demanding that he not be forced to work through the holidays, she doesn’t except to be trapped alone with him in a snow storm. And she doesn’t expect them to give into the attraction that was there all along. But will the magic still be there when the storm is over?

One Night in the Ice Storm by Noelle Adams – When she returns to her hometown for the holidays, Rachel doesn’t expect to be stranded in an ice storm with only David Harris for company. Eight years ago, David took her virginity and then broke her heart, and she doesn’t plan to forgive him. She thinks she doesn’t care about him anymore, until one hot night…when the ice finally melts.

Okay, so my guilty pleasure (and its not even guilty because I am not ashamed at all, y’all), is Christmas in July. So when I was given a Christmas duet book in August, it was like a perfect storm. Like, believe me when I say I could have had a panic attack from my excitement.

So let’s start with Book 1: Moonlight in Winter Park

This book was so sweet and yet started out so sadly. We meet Hope and her brother, Ted. They are both dealing with the grief of their parents loss but while her brother is just working non-stop, Hope is hanging onto traditions and trying hard to help them live on. I really felt for her. She was just trying so hard. Hope harbors some resentment towards her brother and his boss, the elusive GB James, who is always demanding more hours and then asks Ted to work over Christmas. Hope is beyond angry.

In the meantime, Hope does meet a nice man named Beckett, but its only the early stages of a few dates. As Christmas approaches, Hope makes plans with friends until she gets a call for Ted about his fiance’. Of course, she can’t get a hold of Ted since he’s off with his boss but she manages to find them out in the mountains at a winter park resort. Ted sort of pulls a fast one on Hope when he realizes that Hope knows his boss. The elusive GB James is also Beckett.

It was so fun watching them fall in love. I mean, it truly was. Its so easy to read romance and not love every single love story and every couple, but seeing Hope and Beckett both change around each other was really heartwarming. There are aspects in the story where we see Hope somewhat understanding why Beckett operates the way he does, but we also see Beckett coming around to Hope’s side of things, where he should ease up a bit.

I don’t want to add more because it’ll spoil it for you, but its just fantastic. Trust me on this.

Book 2: One Night in the Ice Storm

This was my first experience reading Noelle Adams and I was definitely not disappointed. The story starts with Rachel coming into town to visit her mother but there is an ice storm in town and its intensifying. Rachel’s mother and brother are stranded in town, and a longtime family friend, David Harris, stops by to check on her. However, he also becomes stranded.

Rachel and David’s dynamic is sort of hilarious because he’s insistent on helping her and she’s hell bent on having no help at all. When we realize the backstory that David took Rachel’s virginity years ago and then left her high and dry, then we realize her hatred for him. Hatred that is still really love. And David’s feelings for Rachel have clearly never changed, not once in eight years.

Again, I don’t want to give away the ending because that would be spoiling a great ending for you.

I am eagerly hoping that Samantha and Noelle hook up again to do a book duet or possibly write something together because I definitely think their styles meld well and I loved both of these stories.